Fred Flintstone

Animated Character

Born: 1960

Birthplace: Television

Best known as: Star of TV's The Flintstones

Fred Flintstone was the dad in the animated comedy The Flintstones, a prime time TV series that aired from 1960-66. Fred was a blustery, egotistical Stone Age family man who lived in the town of Bedrock and worked in a rock quarry. (The show had many parallels to Jackie Gleason's hit show The Honeymooners.) The show's running gag was its caricatures of modern conveniences; Fred's crane was actually a long-necked dinosaur, the phonograph needle was a bird with a pointed beak, and so forth. Other characters included Fred's skeptical wife Wilma and daughter Pebbles, the neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble and their boy Bam Bam. (In later episodes Fred was sometimes joined by the Great Gazoo, a tiny but powerful green being from outer space.) The show continued in reruns and spun off several related cartoon series, and Fred's shout of "Yabba dabba doo!" was TV's most popular cartoon catch-phrase until Homer Simpson's "D'oh!"

Extra credit: The Flintstones was created by Hanna-Barbera studios... Alan Reed, who voiced Fred in the original series, played Pancho Villa opposite Marlon Brando in the 1952 film Viva Zapata!... Barney Rubble and his pet Dino were voiced by Mel Blanc, who also voiced Bugs Bunny and many other Warner Brothers cartoon characters... Actor John Goodman played Fred in the 1994 live-action film The Flintstones; Mark Addy played Fred in the 2000 sequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.